by Aamer Madhani, USA TODAY

by Aamer Madhani, USA TODAY

Hillary Rodham Clinton had an interesting answer, when asked at a global forum Tuesday about which secretary of State she most admires.

Clinton demurred on naming a favorite, but said that she has a special affinity for William Seward, who battled unsuccessfully against Abraham Lincoln for the presidency only later to be picked by Lincoln to be his secretary of State.

"He was very a successful politician from New York when he became secretary of State," said Clinton, who will leave her post later this week. "He had run against President Lincoln, so there's a little bit of parallel here in the Team of Rivals concept.

"If anyone has seen the Steven Spielberg movie Lincoln, you see Secretary Seward by Lincoln's side advising and supporting him," she noted.

Seward, who served as governor of New York as well as a U.S. senator, survived an assassination attempt on the night that Lincoln was fatally wounded.

"I like his willingness to work with President Lincoln," Clinton added. "He made a real difference during our Civil War and I admire him greatly."

But there are aspects of the Lincoln-Seward relationship that Clinton probably does not identify with.

Lincoln and Seward would develop a deep friendship, but their political relationship was complicated from the start. Early in Lincoln's presidency, Seward got involved in unauthorized negotiations with the Confederacy over Fort Sumter, near Charleston, S.C.